Possible to have a topicbodyPoxy split by a menuProxy?

[writer_sam]

Hello,

Does anyone know of a way I can adjust my Master page so that topics start with a heading1, have a TOC of the headings underneath, then the rest of the topic underneath that? So the output would be something like:

sample_topic_layout.png

I want the majority of my topics to use this layout so would rather not manually add it to the topic itself. Scratching my head here!

Using Flare 2018, with HTML5 target output.

Thanks in advance.

[ChoccieMuffin]

Hmm...

Not sure if this'll do the trick for you, but how about providing a topic template that has a MiniTOC proxy after a heading 1? Or would it be possible to insert a mini_TOC proxy after a h1 using the CSS?

Can't think of a way to do it with adjusting masterpages, but that might do the trick.

[Nita Beck]

Agree that you can’t get there by way of the master page. I agree with the idea of having a topic template that has the menu proxy already in place. But keep in mind that a topic template, in Flare-land, isn’t something that can be applied retroactively to existing topics. (I recall, from 10 years ago, that that’s how RoboHelp worked.) Instead, a topic template is something that you *start with* when creating a new topic.

Another idea, particularly to deal with your existing topics, is to create a snippet that has the menu proxy in it, already set up to build links from headings (rather than from a TOC). Then you can just drop that snippet into place in a topic, between the first heading and the rest of the topic. I’ve done this myself in several of my projects. Works nicely.

Also, just to be clear, you need to use a menu proxy set up to create links from headings, not a miniTOC proxy. At least as far as online output goes, a miniTOC proxy doesn’t “look” for headings within a topic. Rather, a miniTOC proxy is used to create links based on the TOC for a “book” that has topics within it. You’d use a miniTOC proxy in the “parent” topic that has child topics nested within it.

[writer_sam]

Thanks guys for your replies.

@ChoccieMuffin, that was my "I give up, and will manually insert it" thought late in the evening!

@Nita, I haven't considered that this couldn't be retro-fitted to existing topics; all my testing was for a new topic so will need to check those ones later. I like the idea of inserting a snippet, that might be the way to go (I've just taken an audit of existing topics and I've over 300 in this project.

While playing around, I've kinda fudged what I think works for new topics:

I created a Master Page where I use the sytem variable "Title" as the placeholder for the heading1, then have a menuProxy underneath, followed by the bodyProxy:

Code: Select all

<h1><MadCap:variable name="System.Title" /></h1>
          <p class="InternalTOC">Table of Contents</p>
          <MadCap:menuProxy data-mc-skin="/Project/Skins/InternalTOC.flskn" mc-linked-toc="$topicHeadings" style="mc-toc-depth: 3;mc-context-sensitive: True;mc-include-parent: True;mc-include-siblings: True;mc-include-children: True;" />
         <MadCap:bodyProxy />

The drawback is that when I open a new topic, I have to add what would be the heading text to the Topic Title property and ensure I don't have a heading 1 in my topic - or rather, I've condition-tagged my heading for print output only. How this affects my SEO, I'll have to find out.

EDIT: I've "kinda" made this work for existing topics by using the same Master Page name, admittedly in the handful of test topics i'm using though ...